The past few days, we’ve been doing lots of googling about different things, like how to get the pool water back to normal after winter without spending a fortune, how to tell the difference in boy kittens and girls, and how to lure a hermit crab out of hiding.  Sounds interesting, huh?  Well, let me tell you all about it!

First, the pool…That’s the easy part.  You dump a lot of chlorine in, right?  Right!  Easy enough.  If you don’t have a pool, most people think it’s pretty easy to take care of.  Besides, it’s just water.  Wrong!  I can count about 8 bottles of different things we have right now that help keep our pool pretty and clear, and finding the balance is a little like fung shui, or as Mulan says, “Lesson Number One”.  Anyway, it’s well on its way to being beautiful in a few days.

Second, Kittens!  Did I tell you we have 4 kittens?  See!

They’re a week and a half old, born Friday, March 30th.  Lily actually had them in EK’s bed during the night while we were all asleep, and Daddy was on a business trip.  She woke up around 6:30 asking why there were “so many meows” in her room.  She’d knocked one of them off of her bed while waking up, and the poor thing was screaming on the floor.  After scooping 3 kittens and Mama into a towel lined clothes basket, I put them in our bathroom (which is quiet and away from everyone else…like Bella).  A little bit later, I went to check on her, and there was kitten #4.  After consulting Google, we think* there are 3 boys and 1 girl…2 are black and white tuxedos, one with a white face, and the other 2 are white with her coloring spread out over their backs.  It looks like they’re all going to be pretty cats when they get bigger.  Now, to find them homes!  Anyone want a kitten?

Did you know that hermit crabs like grapes and peanut butter?  Me either until I had to figure out how to potentially lure EK’s hermit crab out of hiding when we thought it climbed out of their tank.  Apparently, they have a really awesome sense of smell and will run as fast as their little claws will carry them to peanut butter.  Didn’t know that?  Well, now you do!  Unfortunately, our little experiment didn’t net us a crab, but I don’t think he was ever missing in the first place.  He just buried himself so nicely that no one could find him.  Good news, though, Abby’s crab likes the tank and doesn’t try to climb out!

Well, did you?  The past few days have been C.R.A.Z.Y. around here, so this is going to be a big update on everything that’s been going on from the camping trip , to bug bites, to exhaustion.  Buckle in, folks…Here we go!

Welcome to Camp Low!  It’s a beautiful part of Rose Dhu Island surrounded by salt marshes.  We were met by the local wildlife, the deer, possum, and raccoon, upon driving across the one lane bridge.

Friday to Sunday is basically a sleep deprived blur.  I never knew little girls didn’t sleep…at all…but I do now.  Camping was…interesting.  I don’t think I’ve ever been that exhausted, but at the same time, too busy to care.  We started out Saturday morning at 6:30, with breakfast, lots of coffee, and tons of bug spray.  I swear I can still smell off when I move my arm in front of my face.  Maybe it got embedded in my nose?  Who knows.  We did a trolley tour of all of the Girl Scout spots, including a walk out to Juliet Gordon Low’s grave site in Laurel Grove Cemetery.

Next up, we headed over to Wright Square for lunch.  The girls got the added bonus of seeing someone play the diggeridoo while we were looking for clues for their walking safari.

After our little concert, we noticed the skies darkening…So, out come 5 phones to look at the radar…only to find that we’re about to get slammed with yellow and red.  Our lovely tour guides offered to grab the trolleys, meet us at the next corner, and drive us around for the safari, so we wouldn’t all be drowned rats.  They arrived just in the nick of time, since it started raining as they pulled up.  Because of the rain, dinner that night was interesting.  We had planned to use the grills at camp to make burgers for everyone, but wet ground does not make a fire grow.  The menfolk improvised with foil on the ground, under the fire, and voila!  Dinner!

After dinner, we headed back into town for our moonlit cruise on the Savannah River.  Oh. My.Goodness…The cruise had music and the girls made a dance floor!  By the end of the night, some of the other women on the boat (who were total strangers, might I add) were asking the girls to show them how to do some of the dances they were doing!  Not to mention, the people who were coming up from the lower decks to watch them…And might I add that us leaders actually surprised the girls with knowing how to do some of the stuff they did, but I don’t remember the songs being as long when I was in college.  Maybe I’m getting old…

Sunday = my favorite day!  Beach Day!  After packing up the camp, we headed out to Tybee.  When we arrived, it wasn’t croweded, the girls could play in the water a bit, and everyone got a science lesson when a live jellyfish washed up on shore, and a crab climbed out.  The girls were amazed that a crab could live in a jellyfish…and might I add, I was too.

They spent the next few hours hunting for shells and trying (operative word, here) to not get wet ( read -totally soaked) before having lunch and heading home.

This week, we’ve played catch up…Too exhausted to do anything else from a combined total of about 8 hours sleep all weekend…if that!  I’m happy to report though, that all camp stuff has been washed!  And I have 22 bites on one arm…On the upside, the ones on my forearm kind of look like the Eiffel Tower.

Around here, this week has been insane…Like herding cats insane.  Because of that, and because I’m Mom, I’ve taken some time to do a few things just for me. What did you do this week just Because you’re Mom?

Because I’m Mom…

…I waited until the last possible second to pack for a trip this weekend.

…I ordered pizza for dinner Wednesday and had it delivered early just so I didn’t hear whines for snacks when the girls got home.

…I spent 4 hours reading a new book instead of packing for Savannah.

…I’m thinking very seriously of trading the water in my bottle for vodka tomorrow while on said trip…36 Girl Scouts and a couple of leaders…Vodka’s deserved, right?

…I’m packing ear phones for the drive

AND…Because I’m Mom, I’m starting a contest for the weekend.  I’m at 13 likes right now, and if you guys can share it to 100 likes before the end of the weekend (12:01, am Monday, EDT), I’ll do a drawing for a $20 gift card to the restaurant of your choice(assuming I can get it online ).  If we don’t make it, I’ll restart the contest next month, and we’ll try again.  But remember, share this page, like it, and share it again!

…Because this girl is goin’ campin’.  Seriously…you read that right.  I promise!  The time has come that this wannabe Girl Scout leader is going to pull herself together for a camping trip with 36 lovely little ladies in Savannah.  Camp Low may not be the same come Sunday afternoon…Or maybe it’s me that might not be.  I’m wondering if this first escapade into the wilderness (yeah, yeah, camping at a camp site on an island outside of Savannah isn’t roughing it, but it is for me!) might turn me into a camper.  Likely, not, but my husband can dream!  I’ve already been informed that the sand gnats are out in full force (Yay…great!), but with some research, I’m finding all kinds of natural things to keep them away, like Vanilla.  From what I’ve heard, or Googled, the camp itself looks pretty cool.  I know the girls are going to have a blast, and really that’s all that matters.

Aside from it being my first Girl Scout trip, it’ll also be the girls’ first, and Chris’.  Yep, I’m draggin’ him too!  The last time we “camped”, we had a cool little cabin in NC with my grandparents as neighbors, nestled next to a creek in the mountains.  It was pretty primitive for me, who thinks that roughing it is my cable going out in my cabin, but we made it!  See…

This camping trip, however, will be a bit different…  We’re talking sleeping bags, bug spray, whiny kids, and a lot of going. Usually, I’m not good in these situations, but for this weekend, I’m packing my happy pills, good attitude, and a whole lot of patience because this girl is goin’ campin’!

PS…If you don’t hear from me Monday…Send help!

…Us girls get into all kinds of trouble.  From eating pizza (which Daddy isn’t too fond of) to trying silly hairstyles, I tend to kind of let the girls do what they want, within reason, when Chris isn’t here.  Right now, he’s knee deep in Mercer’s MBA program and spends every other weekend in Atlanta, so that leaves lots of time for hi-jinks.  Last night, while he was at Chapter(did I mention that he’s also alumni advisor for Lambda Chi Alpha at Mercer?), the girls and I decided to do their hair.  I found this tutorial on how to do Bantu Knots that curl hair.  Since EK’s hair wouldn’t hold a curl if her life depended on it, I thought we’d give it a try.

This was last night…

This morning…

The little ladies loved it, so it’s definitely something we’ll be doing again.  The only suggestion I have is to not use the gel on it when you roll them, but leave in conditioner works really well.  Also, make sure the hair is almost dry when you do it, otherwise, it ends up wet in the morning.

My walls and doors are a little perkier these days with the addition of 4 new wreaths that I’ve shed only a few hours on…But a lot of blisters!  Those hot glue guns get HOT!  I found most of these on Pinterest, and they’re so easy!  Whatcha think?

It’s pizzacrust(Pillsbury refrigerated pizza crust)…spaghetti sauce…steamed broccoli…grilled chicken…parmesan…a little cojack…and Voila!  Dinner!

…And I need a meeting!  Seriously…This is worse than my Starbucks addiction any day!  It’s like I have to run back and check to see if anyone’s pinned something new that I MUST make/cook/decorate/try/think that it’s the greatest thing I’ve seen in forever!  I don’t get it.  Really, I don’t.  In all honesty, I didn’t give in for the longest because it was just something else to check every day, er, hour.  It’s worse than Facebook, I think.    I’ve even gotten other people hooked on it.  It’s like I’m their dealer or something.  BTW, if you don’t know what Pinterest is, it’s basically a website that you can “pin” things to that you find that are really neat/cool/tasty/something you want to make.

So far, I’ve made 3 wreaths, countless dinners, a few cakes/desserts, a plethora of arts and crafts projects for the girls, and found some really good home remedies for things like weeds.  And did you know if you heat 2 cups of water and 1 tsp of vanilla in a microwave safe container for 5 minutes, it’ll make the gunk just fall off of your microwave?  True story…See?  And it even makes your kitchen smell like pound cake! Bonus!

*And yes, I purposefully put chili in my microwave because I’d just wiped it down earlier before I found the tip*

  The After

There’s no telling what kind of cool thing I might see later, so stay tuned for more Pinterest finds…And share some of yours!

Every year, the art teachers across the county get to choose one piece for each class to display at the mall for a week.  EK’s was chosen this year for her class, so last night, we went over to see which one it was, and of course to snap a picture.  She loves to draw, color, paint, really do anything artistic…Well, both of them do  Anyway, here’s the artist and her masterpiece!

It’s Saturday…the one day a week I look forward to probably the most because typically, it’s either the fastest paced day of the week, or the slowest.  You never know how it’s going to go.  Today, though, we loaded up the SUV with the girls, PFB (aka my niece Sarah, who’s 3)  and went up to Macon for the St. Patty’s Day festivities in the College Hill Corridor at Mercer. First on the agenda…Lunch!  We thought about just waiting until we got to Mercer to figure out what to eat, but didn’t want to chance a crowd.   We stopped in at Texas Cattle Company for 3 bowls of Mac ‘n Cheese for the ladies, and burgers for us.

Next up, face painting, apple juice, and a lot of inflatable bouncing!  Even in all of the running around, I still managed to find a black and orange necklace from one of the vendors there.  Score!  The girls had a great time, got all sweaty, and ran around for an hour or so before deciding it was too hot.  All in all, good beginning to a Saturday.   Enjoy the pictures!